Every Thought Captive – Guard Your Minds

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Actex Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.

For more information, visit Actex.tv.

Well, today we are continuing our series Every Thought Captive.

And I've just loved this series so much.

And if you've missed a week, tomorrow for Memorial Day, this is your homework.

Catch up on this series, because this series has been so good.

And today, as we continue week three, the series has been all about our thought life, right?

And how our thoughts shape the way that we think, and that ultimately shapes the way that we live.

Because we all know before adult takes action, it starts about something that was rooted into our brains.

So today I want to start off with the question is what or who taught you how to think?

And better yet, I want to ask you this question.

This is how I wrote it down.

Is what have I allowed to influence the way I think?

Ask yourself that.

What have I influenced?

What have I allowed to influence the way that I think?

And that's where we're going today.

And the first scripture I want to look at today is in Proverbs 4.23.

And Proverbs 42423 says this above all else, guard your heart for everything.

Somebody say everything.

Bartow, I can't hear you.

Say everything.

Everything, not some things, not most things, not just church things, not spiritual things.

Everything you do flows from it.

And see, when I read this, when the Bible talks about the heart, it's not just talking about your emotions.

It's not talking about your feelings.

See, in this context, it's talking about the control center, the control center of your life.

This is the place where your thoughts, your desires, your decisions, your emotions, your direction comes from.

See, if you're taking notes, I wrote it down like this is that what gets access to your mind eventually gets influence over your life.

I'm gonna say that one more time.

What gets access to your mind eventually gets influence over your life.

Like, come on, like let me explain what I mean.

Like, have you ever had one thought that just ruined your whole day?

No, is it just me?

Is it just me?

Okay, let me give you some examples.

Let me try to paint this for you.

You ever been driving down like I4, or maybe you're joining us online?

Like, think about the worst highway that was probably ever built wherever you live, right?

So, like, you ever been driving down an I-4 and someone cuts you off and then they give you the Pissan without the index finger, and you're like, what?

You're like, like you cut me off, and like that could just ruin your whole day.

Or have you ever like sent like a heartfelt long message to someone?

I mean, like, you just poured it all into this message, and they respond back with the letter K.

Like, those are fighting words, okay?

This isn't even a word, that's a fighting letter, right?

Or or maybe, or maybe uh for all the husbands, all the husbands here, you ever got in trouble by your spouse for something that you actually did in a dream?

Right?

And anybody with me ever wake up with the elbow in your throat?

Like, is it just me?

Like, but that is the thing.

Our thoughts have the power of truly ruining our day.

And all it takes is one thought, and that's why we have to prioritize our minds.

But I think it's fascinating on how little we actually guard our minds.

Uh, recently I read something interesting about hockey.

Any hockey fans in the house?

Okay, okay, we got some Barton or Lakeland online.

Anybody, any, any, any hockey fans?

So I read something fascinating.

And in 1874 was when the first cup was introduced.

And I'm not talking about like the Stanley Cup, I'm not talking about like the solo cup, like the protective cup.

Right?

Okay, and I'm gonna be careful right there, because I can make so many jokes, but I want to be invited back to speak, right?

So, so here's so in 1874 was when the first protective cup was ever invented.

And like for me, I'm like, this is a top 10 invention.

I'm like, this is directly from God.

Like, thank you so much for this.

But as I continue to read, what was next fascinated me.

I gotta ask you a question.

How long do you think it was from that moment that it took the NHL to make helmets?

Helmets, a thing that protects this chrome dome.

Mandatory.

How many years?

20 years, 30, 50, okay, I hear 70, North Lakeland, 80?

It took a hundred years.

It was a hundred years after the first cup was introduced for them to make helmets mandatory.

And all that tells me is that it took man a hundred years to realize that their brains are also important.

Like, here's the thing, like, like it's funny, but it truly made me think like, isn't that what we all do?

Like, we prioritize things in our like we guard things in our life that are not as much of a priority as our brains.

Like we guard our image, we guard our reputation, we guard our money, we guard our homes with security systems, we guard our relationships, we guard our iPhones with face ID, uh passcode, screen protectors, but we don't guard the most important part of our lives, and that's our minds.

Because what gets access to your mind eventually gets influence over your life.

So when we read Proverbs, what it's saying is guard your heart.

When it says that, it's saying, guard your control center, guard what shapes you, guard what directs you, guard what gets to have a voice in your life because everything you do flows from it.

So I have to guard it.

And the story that I want to look at today that helps that helps illustrate this is in Numbers 13.

And Numbers is in the Old Testament, and to catch us up to where we're gonna be reading them, give us some context.

So there's a group of people called the Israelites.

Somebody say the Israelites.

So you got the Israelites, and right now they're in captivity, they are in slavery, but God is saying, Hey, I am getting ready to free you from slavery, and he's going to use a God named Moses to free them.

Somebody say Moses.

So he's gonna so he's using Moses to free them from slavery, to lead them.

Because here's the thing about God He's not just freeing them from something, he's leading them to something, he's leading them to the promised land.

And he said, the promised land is flowing with milk and honey.

And I don't know if you're anything like me, any dietary restrictions in here.

Like for me, I am a self-diagnosed lactose intolerant.

So when I say, you're leading me to milk and honey, like that's not my promised land, that sounds like a setup.

But for them, that would this was a big deal.

Like, like the God was freeing them out of slavery and was leading them to a land that was specifically for them.

And here's something I want you to understand is that this journey to the promised land, it wasn't an easy journey, it was a long journey.

And Moses is leading them back to the promised land.

Okay, and then when they get to the edge of the promised land, so close they can see it.

So close that they're like, God is really coming through on everything that he said he would.

They're right there.

So in this moment, what Moses does is that he calls out 12 leaders from each tribe, and their task was very simple.

It was to go into the land, to scout it, to see what it was like, to see all the obstacles, anything that they may be up against.

That was the role, and there was to come back and give the report.

And this is where we pick up in Numbers 13.

It says this one of the spies said, We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey.

Here's this fruit.

But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.

We even saw descendants of Unoch there.

Now, if you didn't grow up in church, descendants of Unoch were known as these large, intimidating warriors.

So when they when they saw them, like they were just freaking out.

But here's something that I want you to notice in this scripture it's the word but.

See, in verse, in verse 28 it says, but the people who live there are powerful.

See, here's the thing.

They acknowledge that the land was good, they acknowledge that it was fruit.

They acknowledge that, hey, this is exactly where God, where God is leading us.

Then they said, but.

And that one word right there shows us what bad thinking does.

See, it acknowledges God's promise, but then it magnifies the problem.

See, they didn't deny that the land was good.

They didn't deny that it was fruit.

But the moment that they saw resistance, their whole thinking shifted.

And if I'm being honest, this is where a lot of us can live.

Like, like a lot of us can quote this God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.

But I don't know if He'll come through for me.

I know God can forgive, but I don't know if God can forgive me.

I know God has a plan, but Pastor Troy, you don't understand, I've made so many mistakes.

I know God can use people, but I'm too young or I'm too old.

I know God wants me to trust him, but what if it doesn't work out?

And here's the danger in that is that great opportunities can be ruined by bad thinking.

I'm gonna say that one more time.

Great opportunities can be ruined by bad thinking.

Like these, like the spots, they had evidence of God's promise in their hands, but their fear was louder in their minds.

And before they ever lost the land physically, they lost the land mentally.

They were standing on the edge of their future, but their thinking was already talking them out of it.

And I don't know if you're if you're anything like me, but if you ever had an opportunity, uh opportunity that arose, but fear and insecurity talked you out of walking through it?

You ever time you ever had a time where you know you should forgive someone, where in your heart you really wanted to forgive someone, but bitterness gives you a reason to stay offended?

Or maybe there was a time where you're like, I really want to trust you.

Like I really want to give my trust to you, but fear convinces you to stay where it's comfortable.

You ever had a you ever been in that situation?

Here's why this matters because what gets access to your mind eventually gets influence over your life.

And I think a lot of us truly misunderstand how our minds work.

I had a pastor tell me this once.

He said, Terrell, your brain is not like a toilet.

And I just looked at him and I said, Well, duh.

Like, like, of course.

And he's like, No, no, no, no, no, no.

He's like, Toro, you can't input anything you want into your brain and just expect to show up to church and just flush it out.

And I said, and right then I got offended, and back then I was a little crazy.

I, you know, I used to fight a lot, so I was ready to fight him.

Because I was because like he was stepping on my toes.

But then it got me thinking about how I grew up.

And I don't know if you grew up anything like me, but throughout the week I would do anything I want, watch whatever I want, talk however I want, do whatever I wanted.

But then I was then on Sunday morning on the way to church, I'm listening to Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, you know, and then I'm coming to here and I'm worshiping in the front row, like, come on, Lord, having an encounter with God.

But then as soon as I'm leaving, I'm listening to Jeezy in the parking lot.

Like I'm going back to everything that I was doing before I got to church.

But then I have this realization that I just cannot keep feeding my mind whatever I want, and then just expect to flush it away.

Why?

Because my brain does not work like a toilet.

Our brains are more like a trough.

And if you're in here today, you don't know what a trough is.

I guarantee everybody at Bartow knows what a trough is.

Because it's real country over there.

I guarantee.

Okay, but listen, listen.

If you don't know what a trough is, a trough is like this big thing that animals eat and drink out of.

But I need you to catch this.

Because whatever you put into a trough, it's different than a toilet.

Whatever you put into a trough, it mixes, it collects.

And if you don't filter it, it gets really nasty.

And that's how our minds are.

And see, I wrote it down like this is that you can't keep feeding your mind trash and expect your life to produce peace.

It just doesn't work like that.

You can't feed your mind trash and expect your life to produce peace.

And see, that's why some of us just wonder why why our lives fill off.

But we haven't checked what's been sitting in our minds.

Like, how many of us here know that the longer something sits, just the worse it gets?

You ever left leftovers in a fridge too long?

Anybody?

Two days?

Let me see.

Three days, North Lakeland, four days?

Okay, that should be a crime.

You know?

But like the longer that you keep leftovers in a fridge, the worse that it gets.

You gotta get rid of it.

Right?

Or maybe, or we got any gym rats?

Any gym rats in here?

Any gym rats?

You ever kept protein in your shaker bottle too long?

Don't leave it in your car in this floor to heat.

It's a chemical concoction that's cooking up in there.

Just throw that thing away.

Right?

Or maybe have you ever left your house like in a rush and you forgot to put DO on for the BO?

And it's bad news from there.

Right?

And the longer that the day goes, you ever been around somebody who goes, you'd be like, yo.

Right?

And the longer that the day goes, the worse that it gets.

But it's the same thing with our minds.

When we leave the wrong things sitting in our brain for too long, the worse it gets.

So I gotta take every thought captive.

Because I can't keep feeding my mind trash and expect my life to produce peace.

So I got so we gotta guard what we feed our minds.

And like when I was thinking through this, I was like, man, this is why, this is why a lot of times like I can feel anxious.

Or maybe we feel insecure, bitter, or discouraged because we've allowed things to hang around for far too long.

And here's what maturity is maturity isn't just asking God to keep cleaning out what I feed, what I keep letting in.

At some point I have to ask myself, why do I keep letting this in?

Like, why do I keep letting this in?

Because some of us are asking God to clean up what we keep feeding, and God is looking down at us like, I'm not the one that put it there, right?

And then God is looking at us, and he's asking you the same question that I'm asking you is who put it there?

Or maybe a better question is this who taught you to think that way?

Because nobody comes into this world thinking neutral.

Like, like no nobody comes into this world with just a strong opinion.

How we think has been shaped by someone or something's maybe it was maybe it was a parent, maybe it was a teacher, maybe it was a coach.

Maybe it maybe it was a bad experience, maybe it was something, man, maybe it was trauma, maybe it was something someone said to you a long time ago that they forgot they said to you, but you've been living under it ever since.

And this is exactly what we see in so uh in um Numbers 13.

Because the issue wasn't just what the spies saw, the issue was how they interpreted what they saw.

Let's pick up in verse 30.

Then Caleb, one of the spies, he's one of the spies, he silenced the people before Moses and said, We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.

But the men who had gone up with them said, We can't attack those people, they are stronger than we are.

And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.

They said, The land we explore devours those living in it.

All the people we saw there are of great size.

We saw the Nuphilim there, the descendants of Eunch, of Unoch, come f um come from the Nuphilim.

We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.

See if I had to summarize these three verses, is that you got 10 spies that see these giants and say, We can't.

And you got two spies, Caleb and Joshua, who see the same giants and say, But with God we can.

Same land, same enemies, same moment, but they all had a different, but the two had a different mindset.

So I wrote it down like this, if you're taking notes.

Wrong thinking can take you out of what God has already promised you.

Like Caleb and Joshua, they knew that this is the land that God has promised to them.

And I don't know if you're in a room right now and you may be going through something that you don't know if God is going to, if God can show up for you for, but I want to remind you what Caleb and Joshua did in this moment.

I just picture that they looked back and how faithful God has been for them through this journey when he parted this, when he provided food for them.

And he's like, if God did all this, why would he bring us this far just to bring us this far?

And I really hope that that's encouragement for somebody in this room that God would not just bring you this far to bring you this far.

But I have to think about what I am allowing to shape my thoughts.

And that's why I feel like Paul puts so much emphasis, so much emphasis in Romans 12, 2 when it says, Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

In other words, if God is going to change your life, he's going to start by changing the way you think.

Let me illustrate this.

I got a ball.

Everybody see this ball?

I got a tennis ball.

Bartow North Lakeland, online, you see this?

I got a tennis ball.

You look athletic.

Let's play catch.

Okay?

Because this is how some of us think communication works, right?

I say something, you receive it, you hear it.

You say something, right?

And I receive it.

That's how a lot of us think communication works.

But if you've been married longer than five minutes, you know that's not how communication works.

Right?

Communication is actually more like this, right?

Got a ball of play-doh, right?

It's more like this.

I say something, you hear it, you shape it, come on.

And then you send it back.

And I hear.

But here's the difference is that I can shape whatever was said to me because communication is not, oh my, communication is not what was said.

Communication is what I hear.

And see, here's the thing about this is that a lot of times our minds have been shaped about, shaped by what we have allowed in, things that we have experienced, things that we have gone through, things that we have faced.

And that's why I can say the same, I can say the same exact thing to two people and get two completely different responses.

You don't believe me?

Watch this.

I can say to someone, hey, can we talk later?

One person will be like, oh yeah, for sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Let's do it.

You probably just need something.

So everybody just needs something.

I can say that to another person.

And they start freaking out.

They'd be like, talk to me later.

Oh my goodness, what did I do?

Right?

Like, like they just start panicking.

You know, like, you know what I'm talking about?

Why?

Because of what has shaped the way they think.

We've all been shaped by something.

Bad experiences shape how you hear.

Rejection shapes how you hear.

Insecurity shapes how you hear.

Pride shapes how you hear.

Trauma shapes how you hear.

Comparison shapes how you hear.

Now you don't just hear what was said, you hear what your pain translated.

But what if the issue is what has shaped the way I hear?

I wrote it down like this.

What shapes the way I hear will shape the way I see.

And what shapes the way I see will shape the way I live.

And I want to look at I want to look at verse 33 just one more time.

It says, We seem like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.

And like for me, this verse is wild because they didn't just say they look like giants.

They said, We look like grasshoppers.

See, the issue isn't what they saw in the land, the issue is how they saw themselves.

So if you're taking notes, I need you to write this down is that the biggest battle in life may not be what's in front of you.

The biggest battle in life may be what's going on within you.

And see, some of us are losing battles, not because the giants are too big, but because we see ourselves as too small.

It's like when we look at the scripture, God called them conquerors, but they saw themselves as grasshoppers.

God called them into a promise, but they saw themselves as powerless.

God said, I am giving you this land, this land that I have promised you.

I am giving to you.

But they looked at that same land and said, We can't.

And here's the danger in that is that wrong thinking can talk you out of what God has already promised you.

See the difference between living and the promise and then wandering in circles isn't always what you see.

It's about how you think it's how you think about what you see.

See the ten spies, they saw the giants and said, We can't.

Caleb and Joshua saw the same ten spies and said, We can't.

Same situation, different thinking.

So let's get practical here.

What do we do about this?

See, in 2 Corinthians 10 5, Paul says this we take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.

So if we're gonna take thoughts captive, we gotta cap it.

And it's capped for short.

And the C is this you gotta capture the thought.

Like you can't correct what you won't confront.

And some of us are letting thoughts run across our mind like they own the place.

I'm not good enough, I will always be this way.

I can't obey God, I'm too far, I will never change.

But here's the thing is that misaligned thinking leads to misaligned living.

I need you to hear me on this.

You can't walk in purpose if you think you're an accident.

You can't walk in confidence if you think God is disappointed in me.

You can't walk in obedience if you think God is holding out on you.

See, some of us are like, God, would you just change my circumstance?

And God is saying, I'm trying to change the way that you think.

See, Paul says, take the thought and captive.

This means I just don't let every thought become my truth.

I gotta name it entertainment.

And the second thing I gotta do is I gotta capture the thought.

Then I have to audit the thought.

I say, hold up, hold up, hold up.

Where did this thought come from?

I gotta ask myself, does this thought come, does this thought agree with God?

Now does this feel true?

Now does this sound true?

Now have I thought this thought for a long time?

Does this thought agree with what God says?

Because a thought can feel familiar and still be false.

So you gotta audit it.

Does this agree with God?

So I gotta capture the thought.

I have to audit the thought.

And the last thing I have to do, I have to plant truth.

And this is honestly where I think a lot of us stop too early.

I think we get really good at noticing, like, oh, that's not a good thought.

Where does that come from?

Is that is that from God?

No, I don't think that's from God.

But then we stop there.

We have to plant truth.

Because if you don't plant truth, the lies would just grow back.

So whenever you're in a moment and those thoughts come in, and I say when, not if, when, when those lies come in and you're telling yourself, I am not good enough, you gotta ask yourself, what does God say?

See in Ephesians 2 10 it says, We are God's masterpiece.

He created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he's planned for us long ago.

When that lie comes across your mind that I will always be stuck, what does God say?

In 2 Corinthians it says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old is gone, the new is here.

In those moments where you're saying, I'm not loved, ask yourself, what does God say?

In Romans 8 38, it says, And I am convinced that nothing, somebody say nothing, nothing can ever separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow.

Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

You gotta plant truth.

And some of you are here today and you have those thoughts about your marriage, our marriage will never be the same.

We will never have this relationship with our kids again.

What does God say?

What is the truth in that?

You gotta take these thoughts captive because if it doesn't agree with God, then it doesn't get authority over me.

See, I love what it says in Colossians 3:2.

Colossians 3:2

It says, Set your mind.

I have to set my mind on things above, not on earthly things.

See, you have to set your mind.

That means you don't wait around for your mind to drift into peace.

You plant peace, you preach peace, you rehearse truth, you pray truth in your life.

And I truly believe this that you will only go as far as the people around you are willing to go.

And that's why we're always pushing you to access groups.

You gotta get surrounded by the right people.

You have to.

So there's this village in Austria, amazing village, it has a stream running through it, beautiful place, and like the stream, it makes sure that the that the mills are running, that the farms are all taken care of.

And there's a man, he has one job.

His job is this is to go to the source of the stream and to make sure that it's clean, that there's no branches, no debris, no silk, nothing in there that would be able to affect the water.

But nobody ever sees him, nobody knows really knows what he does.

But then there was a council meeting, a city, a town council meeting, and they're looking at the budget and they're like, I've never seen this guy.

Like, why are we paying him?

We never see this guy, we don't know what he does, so they fired him.

And the next thing you know, nothing really changes, and that's the scary part.

And the next thing you know, the water starts turning color, it starts getting brown, it starts to have a different smell, the town starts to be affected, tourists stop coming, and the town, the town is going down.

That's a good line right there.

And then the council comes together, they're like, Whoa, well, what do we do?

And they're like, we need to hire the guy back.

So they hire him back, and then he goes back up to the source of the stream and he starts cleaning it out.

And you're wondering, like, why am I telling you this story?

Because if you don't guard the source, eventually it shows up in the stream.

And that's why in Proverbs 423 423 it says this above all else, guard your heart.

Because everything you do, everything you do flows from it.

And if I stop guarding my mind, eventually it shows up in my attitude, it shows up in the way that I treat other people.

So maybe the invitation for you today isn't to just try harder.

Maybe the invitation is to allow God to renew your mind, to let Him claim the source.

Maybe the invitation for you today is truly to ask yourself, what thought do I need to take captive?

And to make it obedient to the Lord.

So you got homework this week.

Anytime those thoughts come up, I gotta cap it, I gotta capture the truth, I have to audit it, and I have to plant truth.

All across this room and at all of our locations.

Would you close your eyes and bow your heads?

Would you pray with me?

Father, we thank you for today.

Lord, we thank you for who you are, Lord.

Lord, I just pray over just each and every person, Lord, that we will be reminded of what you have called us to be, Lord, that that we will be reminded that you have created us on purpose, with purpose, and for purpose, Lord.

And there are going to be multiple things in our life that try to distract us from that, that stop us from that, Lord.

But we know with you we can do all things, Lord.

You created us to do good things, Lord.

So I pray that we take all the thought captives that are not, that are not from you, Lord, and that we will plant truth in the place, Lord, and that we would not allow our minds to stop us from walking into what you have for us, Lord, and we declare that in your name.

And with all eyes still closed and every head still bowed at all of our locations.

If you walked in here today and you don't know where you are with the Lord, you walked in here today and you're saying, Hey, I want to start a relationship with Jesus.

I think today is the day for you.

And if that's you, if you just have three seconds of courage and if you would just slip your hand in the air, yep, go ahead and right now.

If that's you, if that's you, lift your hand up.

Nobody's looking, nobody's watching.

This moment is for you and the Lord.

I see you.

I see you.

Wow, come on, praise God.

You go ahead and put your hands down.

See, here's the thing a prayer can change everything if you actually mean it.

So, what we're gonna do is we're gonna pray.

And as a church family, we're not gonna let you pray alone.

Nobody here prays alone, you're not gonna walk alone either.

So, all across, so all across our locations, would you pray with me?

Father, Father, we give you our life.

I believe that you died for my sins and you rose again for me, and today, Jesus, I give you my life for the rest of my life.

Jesus, I love you, I worship you, and I'm living for you forever and ever.

Amen.

Come on, can we celebrate all those who just made that decision today?